Valentino Rossi and his Yamaha celebrated a return to form and the marque's 150th victory in the premier class. Though getting away from a poor starting position (11th) and apparently on harder compound tyres than many, he worked his way through the field and took over first place from Ducati-mounted Australian Casey Stoner, a few laps before the end of the race.
The championship is now shaping up as a battle royal between Stoner and Rossi, with the Australian leading the points, but the wily and determined Italian proving in the past that he can come back from his current position.
Though having to settle for second, Stoner still had plenty to celebrate. He and fellow Aussie Chris Vermeulen shared the front row of the grid (with Vermeulen on pole) after a chaotic qualifying session that was dogged by rain. Honda rider Tony Elias suffered a broken femur in a qualifying crash and may have to sit out the rest of the season.
Speaking of Honda, much of the company's senior management was there, including the boss Takeo Fukui, no doubt hoping to see the Repsol team lift its shaky form. They were not disappointed - reigning world champ Nicky Hayden came home in a hard-earned third place, clearly riding harder than he been comfortable to do in a long time. He was shadowed home by team-mate Pedrosa.
It was generally a mixed day for the Aussies, with Anthony West managing a respectable ninth place, scoring points for the second time running and impressing his new Kawasaki team in the process.
West's team-mate, Randy de Puniet, lost his front end going into a turn, crashed out, colliding with Vermeulen in the process and sending the Australian off into the gravel. Luckily the latter stayed upright, though he was forced to settle for 16th.
Fuel consumption may prove to be an issue as the season progresses as teams try to squeeze out more and more power from the 800s. Both Stoner and Hayden ran out on the cool-down lap, which suggests a much too tight margin for error.
Valentino Rossi:
"This was an incredible race. I think maybe one of the top five of my career! Clearly starting from 11th is quite lucky for us because I've won a few times from that position, including last year at Sachsenring. Last night I didn't sleep so well and I couldn't have imagined that the race could turn out like this, in fact I was really a little bit worried after the qualifying and didn't know what to expect today! Once I got going though I saw that I had a great pace and so I just rode as hard as I could to get past everyone because I knew then that I could come back to Casey. When I finally got there I was quite tired, as were my tyres, plus he was riding very well and it was hard to overtake him, but my M1 worked brilliantly today and in the last few laps I was able to go past and win. I have to say a big thank you to Michelin and to my team, because today our package was brilliant and I was able to ride at the maximum. I'm so happy to win here in Assen, it's a special place for me and this is a great emotion! It was nice to have a special livery here as well, in the past I haven't been so lucky with new liveries but hopefully today has turned that around! Congratulations to Yamaha for 150 wins, I am glad that we could celebrate like this!"Casey Stoner:
"We got an awesome start, went out to the front and felt quite comfortable doing similar times to what we were doing in practice, though not quite as fast because the wind was worse today. I was getting pushed around in a few of the fast turns and had a couple of front-end loses, so I wasn't willing to push the bike in the braking points. I saw Valentino catching up, I saw him battling on the TV screens around the track. He was chasing me down pretty hard, he had a faster pace. I tried to up my own pace but once he came past I was at my maximum. I felt great the entire race and I can't complain about the result because we only lost five points in the championship and we've only been off the podium twice this year. I'm really happy with the result, so my thanks to the team, after a bit of a spill this morning I think it's been a good recovery. The bike ran out of fuel on the slowdown lap, just because I'd been sliding and spinning a heck of a lot more during the race than I had through practice, so I think the bike was using a lot more fuel. Overall, I'm happy with the way the season's going. I didn't start the year expecting to be leading the championship at this point, and no matter what happens for the rest of the season we're going to be very happy. I'm proud to be a Ducati man."Nicky Hayden:
"After qualifying in ninth position in the rain yesterday fourth in the race is not too bad, although I have to admit I was actually hoping for better today. My speed was quite good and I was able to improve on my pace from practice, which was encouraging. It's a shame that in the last six or seven laps I began to struggle with traction again and I just couldn't keep the gap to Nicky. We'll have to keep working on this because it's an issue we've had in a few races this year, which means we haven't always achieved the results that looked possible."Chris Vermeulen:
"It was good to start from pole position, and we made big steps in this morning's warm-up and the bike worked the best it has done all weekend when we started the race. I was doing my quickest lap-times and I felt good on the bike. Unfortunately I didn't quite have the speed of the front guys, but I was pushing hard. Then all of a sudden I was hit from the rear and I ended up in the gravel. I didn't know the other rider was there and I certainly don't think there was room for him! It took me a long time to get back on the track and I managed to finish the race. For the remaining laps I was unable to lean the bike over fully because some parts were damaged in the accident and I wasn't able to score any points. We will now move on to Germany and hope that no-one else wants to knock me off there - as this seems to be happening a lot to me this season!"Anthony West:
"I was nervous on the line and, as soon as I released the clutch, I knew my start wasn't a good one. A lot of people went past and I couldn't quite get it together for the first few laps, but then I found a good rhythm. Hofmann, Checa and Melandri and I formed a bit of a group and we fought for the rest of the race. We were changing positions a lot, holding each other up, everyone trying everything: it was a bit wild at times. It was a great experience and I learned a lot. I'm really glad I could stay with those guys for the rest of the race and that I didn't drop out of the group. I'm really happy: one of my goals was to be in the top ten this year but I didn't expect it to be at this race!"
Results:
1 Rossi
2 Stoner
3 Hayden
4 Pedrosa
5 Hopkins
6 Edwards
7 Barros
8 Hofman
9 West
10 Melandri
Points:
1 Stoner 185
2 Rossi 164
3 Pedrosa 119
4 Hopkins 94
5 Vermeulen 88
6 Melandri 87
7 Edwards 75
8 Barros 69
9 Hayden 57
10 Capirossi 57
